Water Partitioning in Planetary Embryos and Protoplanets with Magma Oceans

The water content of magma oceans is widely accepted as a key factor that determines whether a terrestrial planet is habitable. Water ocean mass is determined as a result not only of water delivery and loss, but also of water partitioning among several reservoirs. Here we review our current understanding of water partitioning among the atmosphere, magma ocean, and solid mantle of accreting planetary embryos and protoplanets just after giant collisions. Magma oceans are readily formed in planetary embryos and protoplanets in their accretion phase. Significant amounts of water are partitioned into magma oceans, provided the planetary building blocks are water-rich enough. Particularly important but still quite uncertain issues are how much water the planetary building blocks contain initially and how water goes out of the solidifying mantle and is finally degassed to the atmosphere. Constraints from both solar-system explorations and exoplanet observations and also from laboratory experiments are needed to resolve these issues.     

Impact of rain on wave retrieval from Sentinel-1 synthetic aperture radar images in tropical cyclones

The main objective of our work was to investigate the impact of rain on wave observations from C-band (~5.3 GHz) synthetic aperture radar (SAR) in tropical cyclones. In this study, 10 Sentinel-1 SAR images were available from the Satellite Hurricane Observation Campaign, which were taken under cyclonic conditions during the 2016 hurricane season. The third-generation wave model, known as Simulating WAves Nearshore (SWAN) (version 41.31), was used to simulate the wave fields corresponding to these Sentinel-1 SAR images. In addition, rainfall data from the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission satellite passing over the spatial coverage of the Sentinel-1 SAR images were collected. The simulated results were validated against significant wave heights (SWHs) from the Jason-2 altimeter and European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts data, revealing a root mean square error (RMSE) of ~0.5 m with a 0.25 scatter index. Winds retrieved from the VH-polarized Sentinel-1 SAR images using the Sentinel-1 Extra Wide-swath Mode Wind Speed Retrieval Model after Noise Removal were taken as prior information for wave retrieval. It was discovered that rain did indeed affect the SAR wave retrieval, as evidenced by the 3.21-m RMSE of SWHs between the SAR images and the SWAN model, which was obtained for the ~1000 match-ups with raindrops. The raindrops dampened the wave retrieval when the rain rate was < ~5 mm/hr; however, they enhanced wave retrieval for higher rain rates. It was also found that the portion of the rain-induced ring wave with a wave number > 0.05 rad/m (~125 m wavelength) was clearly observed in the SAR-derived wave spectra.     

联邦学习安全与隐私保护综述

联邦学习是一种新型的分布式学习框架，它允许在多个参与者之间共享训练数据而不会泄露其数据隐私。但是这种新颖的学习机制仍然可能受到来自各种攻击者的前所未有的安全和隐私威胁。本文主要探讨联邦学习在安全和隐私方面面临的挑战。首先，本文介绍了联邦学习的基本概念和威胁模型，有助于理解其面临的攻击。其次，本文总结了由内部恶意实体发起的3种攻击类型，同时分析了联邦学习体系结构的安全漏洞和隐私漏洞。然后从差分隐私、同态密码系统和安全多方聚合等方面研究了目前最先进的防御方案。最后通过对这些解决方案的总结和比较，进一步讨论了该领域未来的发展方向。     

鸭式布局飞机矢量喷流对地面效应影响的风洞试验

针对单发鸭式布局飞机，通过低速风洞试验，研究了矢量喷流对飞机地面效应的影响特性。研究结果表明：发动机喷流使得飞机的地面效应增强，升力系数增加，降低飞机起飞/降落时的飞行速度，缩短起降距离，从而改善飞机起降性能。发动机喷管上/下偏转时，矢量喷流对飞机上下表面气流诱导不对称，均使地面效应阻力系数增量减小。在此基础上，基于数值模拟结果对喷流与地面效应的相互作用机理进行了分析。     

Regolith X-Ray Imaging Spectrometer (REXIS) Aboard the OSIRIS-REx Asteroid Sample Return Mission

The Regolith X-ray Imaging Spectrometer (REXIS) is the student collaboration experiment proposed and built by an MIT-Harvard team, launched aboard NASA’s OSIRIS-REx asteroid sample return mission. REXIS complements the scientific investigations of other OSIRIS-REx instruments by determining the relative abundances of key elements present on the asteroid’s surface by measuring the X-ray fluorescence spectrum (stimulated by the natural solar X-ray flux) over the range of energies 0.5 to 7 keV. REXIS consists of two components: a main imaging spectrometer with a coded aperture mask and a separate solar X-ray monitor to account for the Sun’s variability. In addition to element abundance ratios (relative to Si) pinpointing the asteroid’s most likely meteorite association, REXIS also maps elemental abundance variability across the asteroid’s surface using the asteroid’s rotation as well as the spacecraft’s orbital motion. Image reconstruction at the highest resolution is facilitated by the coded aperture mask. Through this operation, REXIS will be the first application of X-ray coded aperture imaging to planetary surface mapping, making this student-built instrument a pathfinder toward future planetary exploration. To date, 60 students at the undergraduate and graduate levels have been involved with the REXIS project, with the hands-on experience translating to a dozen Master’s and Ph.D. theses and other student publications.     

Spectroscopy peculiarities of thermal plasma of electric arc discharge between electrodes with Zn admixtures

Plasma of the free burning electric arc between Ag–SnO₂–ZnO composite electrodes as well as brass electrodes were investigated. The plasma temperature distributions were obtained by Boltzmann plot method involving Cu I, Ag I or Zn I spectral line emissions. The electron density distributions were obtained from the width and from absolute intensity of spectral lines. The laser absorption spectroscopy was used for measurement of copper atom concentration in plasma. Plasma equilibrium composition was calculated using two independent groups of experimental values (temperature and copper atom concentration, temperature and electron density). It was found that plasma of the free burning electric arc between brass electrodes is in local thermodynamical equilibrium. The experimental verification of the spectroscopic data of Zn I spectral lines was carried out.